Xinjiang · A Long Way to Go for Three Weeks of Colour
Kanas Lake (喀纳斯)
A glacial lake in the far north of Xinjiang, where China meets Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. The photographs that made it famous were taken in about three weeks of autumn, and it is a long way to come for a window that short.
Quick Facts
The Short Version
| What it is | A long, deep glacial lake in the Altai mountains, with a river, forest, meadows and two Tuvan villages below it |
|---|---|
| Where | Burqin County, Altay Prefecture, in the far north of Xinjiang |
| The lake | Around 24 km long. The commonly given maximum depth is about 188 m |
| Why the colour changes | Meltwater sediment and seasonal algae, which shift the water between green, blue and grey through the year |
| The villages | Hemu and Baihaba, built of stacked logs and lived in by Tuvans, who are registered as Mongols in China and speak a Turkic language |
| The famous window | Roughly mid-September to mid-October, when the larch and birch turn |
| Getting there | Fly to Kanas or Altay, then drive. There is no short way to do this |
| Time needed | Three days minimum for the lake and one village. Five to do it properly |
Why Go
The Distance, the Window, and the Villages
1. Three weeks carry the whole reputation
Almost every photograph of Kanas that circulates was taken between about the middle of September and the middle of October, when the larch and the birch along the valley turn yellow and orange against the conifers and the first snow sits on the peaks behind. It is a genuinely spectacular three weeks and the whole of China knows the dates.
The rest of the year is a different place and not a worse one: green meadows and braided river channels in early summer, deep snow and almost no visitors in winter, and a short wildflower season in between. The frames on this page are late spring, which is why the larches in them are still bare. Going outside the autumn window means a quieter, cheaper, more ordinary landscape, and knowing that in advance is the difference between disappointment and a good trip.
2. The Tuvans are the unusual part
Below the lake are two villages, Hemu and Baihaba, built of stacked logs with steep pitched roofs, which look nothing like Chinese rural architecture and a great deal like southern Siberia. They are lived in by Tuvans, a people whose language belongs to the Turkic family and who are registered in China as Mongols, in a corner of the country where the borders of four states meet.
For most foreign visitors these villages are more interesting than the lake, which is beautiful and also broadly comparable to glacial lakes elsewhere. The architecture, the herding economy and the position on a four-way frontier are not comparable to anything else in China. Hemu is the one with hotels and the famous morning mist; Baihaba is smaller, closer to the border, and needs extra paperwork.
The catch. It is remote and it is expensive to reach, and in the autumn window it is also crowded and fully booked. Flights to the local airports are limited and get costly as the colour approaches; the drive from Urumqi takes most of two days; and inside the park you are moved between points by shuttle bus on the park’s schedule rather than your own. Anyone coming for three weeks in October should book months ahead.
Orientation
Shuttle Bus, Three Stops, Two Villages
Inside the park you move by shuttle. The standard sequence runs up the valley past the three river bends to the lake, where the boat and the climb to the ridge pavilion are the two things to do. That is a full day on its own and it is what a one-day visit covers.
The villages are separate. Hemu is reached by its own road and is worth a night rather than a stop, because the reason to be there is the early morning. Baihaba sits on the border and requires a permit arranged in advance, which is why far fewer people go.
Practical
Things Worth Knowing
Decide which season you are coming for
Autumn colour, summer green or winter snow are three different trips. Booking a September trip expecting emptiness, or a June trip expecting gold, both end badly.
Book months ahead for the autumn window
Flights, rooms and park tickets all tighten from August onward for the three weeks in question.
Sleep in Hemu, not just visit it
The mist in the valley at dawn is the image everyone has seen, and day visitors are never there for it.
Baihaba needs a border permit
It sits close to the frontier. Arrange it through your agency before you travel rather than on the day.
Timing
When to Go
| Season | The case for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-September to mid-October | The larch and birch turn and the peaks get their first snow. This is the reason the place is famous | Extremely busy and expensive, and the window moves with the weather each year |
| June to August | Green meadows, wildflowers, long days and manageable numbers | Mosquitoes in the meadows, and the landscape is pleasant rather than extraordinary |
| November to March | Deep snow, almost nobody, and the villages at their most striking | Severe cold and limited access. Some roads close and some services stop |
| April to May | Melt, braided channels and new grass, which is what the photographs on this page show | The larches are still bare and the ground is often wet |
Context
A Corner Where Four Countries Meet
The Altai range runs northwest from Xinjiang into Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, and this valley sits inside the Chinese end of it. That is a different world from the rest of Xinjiang: not desert and oasis but conifer forest, meadow and snow, closer in climate and vegetation to Siberia than to Kashgar.
The people reflect the same geography. Tuvans and Kazakhs herd here, moving stock between seasonal pastures, and the log architecture belongs to the forest belt rather than to the steppe or the oasis. Borders were drawn across this region in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and cut through communities that had used the whole of it.
There is also a lake monster, reported for decades and periodically filmed at long range. The explanation usually offered by biologists is the taimen, a very large freshwater salmonid that lives in these waters and can reach a considerable size. Both the reports and the explanation are part of the local tourist literature, and the park does not discourage either.
Nearby
Other Stops on the Same Trip
Village · 60 km east
Hemu (禾木)
The Tuvan log village with the morning mist, which for many visitors is the better half of this trip.
Village · 35 km southwest
Baihaba (白哈巴)
The smaller village near the border, quieter and with a permit requirement.
Spot · 300 km south
Urho Yardangs (乌尔禾魔鬼城)
Wind-eroded rock forms out on the way back toward Karamay and the desert.
Where to Base
Altay (阿勒泰)
Altay and Kanas both have airports with seasonal services, mostly from Urumqi, and Burqin is the usual road base. Driving up from Urumqi takes most of two days each way, which is why flying is worth the cost for a short trip.
Three days is the working minimum once you are here, and five is better because the villages need overnight stays to be worth the distance.
Experiences
What You Can Actually Do Here
On site · full day
The valley and the lake
The shuttle up past the river bends, the boat on the lake and the climb to the ridge pavilion.
Overnight · 1 night
Hemu
The log village, and the morning when the mist sits in the valley below the houses.
Guided · 5 days
The Chinese Altai
The lake, both villages and the drive between them, with the border paperwork handled.
Worth the journey, with the season chosen deliberately. Go in the autumn window and book everything months ahead, or go outside it and accept a quieter, greener, less photographed place. Either way sleep in Hemu rather than day-tripping it, because the villages are the part of this that exists nowhere else in China.
Plan the Altai Without Wasting the Distance
Tell us your dates and what you are after, and our local team will build the route: flights rather than the two-day drive, the park on a schedule that catches the light, a night in Hemu, and the border permit for Baihaba if you want it.